Each summer, local high school softball players from throughout the county band together to form the Siskiyou Heat squad. The combined U16 and U18 team features girls from Yreka, Etna, Mount Shasta and Tulelake High Schools.

The squad opened the season at a tournament in Medford, Ore., last weekend and earned a 3rd-place finish. This weekend the Heat are at the North Marion Tournament in Woodburn, Ore.

Head coach Jeff Huston was the assistant coach for the Yreka Miners varsity softball team last spring. To him, the Heat squad is a valuable way for the girls to keep their softball skills sharp.

Huston said that the girls face top competition from the larger communities they face. Huston said the squad "has the talent to perform well and win games."

He commended the girls for their dedication to the team, with many juggling other summer sporting events, with a number of the girls members of other teams, such as those for basketball and volleyball.

Huston is being assisted on the coaching staff by Jeff Moser and Dave Fraser.

Sisters Cierra and Sabrina Gribble make the nearly two-hour one-way trip from Tulelake for practices in Yreka.

Cierra, who will be a senior this year, said it's worth the long drive to have the opportunity to play alongside some of the best softball players in the county and improve her skill set.

"I'll learned a lot," she said. Coming from a school in the smallest division in the Northern Section, Cierra said it's been great to work alongside girls from the larger schools in the area and learn from them. And she said they have been great to work with and are willing to help her any way they can.

"They are all really nice and so supportive," she said.

Chantell Fraser will be a senior at Yreka this coming school year and has been a key member of the Lady Miners softball team. She has played for the Heat for a number of years starting with the U12 team.

Fraser said she enjoys having the chance to play each summer.

"I love the sport," Fraser said.

Fraser said being on the team is a great way to refine her skills and work on things she wants to improve on, such as being a more consistent hitter.